Over the course of this semester, learning to utilize a Learning and Reflection Knowledge base was definitely worth my time. Like most of my classmates, I was stuck in my high-school mindset when I started the semester, and negatively assumed that it was tedious and unhelpful. However, as the semester progressed, and I began to use things like the Evernote Web Clipper in my other courses, I saw how wrong I was to dismiss LRKB initially. Not all of my courses were challenging this semester, but I definitely struggled in my GCH103H class. It’s about River Ecology, and we focused on the detrimental effects of dams as well as how rivers are affected by human habitation. I took the class as a natural science gen-ed, because I didn’t want to take the standard Biology or Chemistry, and I knew it was totally outside my comfort zone. I figured college is about expanding my borders and learning new things, so I signed up anyway…however, not only was the class extremely demanding in terms of workload, it threw a large amount of new information at me (as I had no prior background in river ecology). Using Evernote to organize all my in-class notes along with other readings and articles that were assigned in one digital notebook made it seem much less overwhelming. In addition, as my own personal way of organizing notes and studying is using a binder. I integrated three hole punched parts of articles and assigned readings, but included notebook paper with it so I could jot down my own thoughts. This helped me a lot when I was asked to go back and write a paper, or cite one of the readings, because I already had notes put aside. All in all, Evernote was a useful tool, not only for this class and our ability to share resources, but for use in my GCH class as well. I’m definitely keeping the app on my Macbook! I’m sure I’ll use it in the future, and I’m interested to see what LRKBs my future students will use. Technology progresses rapidly, and I’m so lucky to be a 21st century learner with all these additional tools at my fingertips.
Not all of my courses were challenging this semester, but I definitely struggled in my GCH103H class. It’s about River Ecology, and we focused on the detrimental effects of dams as well as how rivers are affected by human habitation. I took the class as a natural science gen-ed, because I didn’t want to take the standard Biology or Chemistry, and I knew it was totally outside my comfort zone. I figured college is about expanding my borders and learning new things, so I signed up anyway…however, not only was the class extremely demanding in terms of workload, it threw a large amount of new information at me (as I had no prior background in river ecology). Using Evernote to organize all my in-class notes along with other readings and articles that were assigned in one digital notebook made it seem much less overwhelming.
In addition, as my own personal way of organizing notes and studying is using a binder. I integrated three hole punched parts of articles and assigned readings, but included notebook paper with it so I could jot down my own thoughts. This helped me a lot when I was asked to go back and write a paper, or cite one of the readings, because I already had notes put aside.
All in all, Evernote was a useful tool, not only for this class and our ability to share resources, but for use in my GCH class as well. I’m definitely keeping the app on my Macbook! I’m sure I’ll use it in the future, and I’m interested to see what LRKBs my future students will use. Technology progresses rapidly, and I’m so lucky to be a 21st century learner with all these additional tools at my fingertips.